Fangs

Autorentext

K.L. Speer

Klappentext

In the wake of a devastating uprising, Bones must navigate the weight of grief and embrace her true power as the lines between ally and enemy begins to blur—the explosive, epic sequel to Bones

This deluxe first edition trade paperback features sprayed edges, a foil cover, and an interior map—while supplies last!

“Run, lil rabbit, before Wolf tears you apart.”

Twelve years ago, Ember Cutler obeyed her father and ran away from a devastating crime scene, but the girl who disappeared into the desert was not the same girl who came out. Now, she’s known only by the name “Bones.” When her older brother appears in her clinic at the Vault and abducts her at gunpoint, Bones knows her time has finally run out, and the past she tried to escape has caught up to her.

Taken by Wolf and his team of deadly bounty hunters, Bones finds her past and present identities colliding. With the help of her crew and its leader, Mac, Bones struggles to untangle who she is now from her trauma and grief. But the gods have taken notice of her—and her potential—and enemies new and old are circling.

When her magic begins to evolve in mysterious ways, Bones is forced to decide who she wants to be in the face of the terrifying forces that threaten to alter the entire world.

Leseprobe
Chapter 1

"Think you ran far enough?" asked Wolf.

I couldn't speak, couldn't remember a single word. I was ten years old again, staring into my older brother's furious face, but he wasn't a gangly teenage boy anymore. New scars marked his skin. He wore a dirty, worn green and brown uniform, a rifle strapped to his back and a pistol on his hip, along with several sheathed knives. A pair of goggles sat on top of his head, and his wavy brown hair hung long enough to cover his ears. The hardness of his green eyes made me feel sick.

"What? You got nothin' to say to me?" He smiled with no humor in it. "After all this time?"

I stared at him, my heart lodged in my throat. He stared back, studying my face as though looking for something. Was he trying to find the ten-year-old girl he last saw? A low whistle came from the main floor of the clinic below us, and Wolf whistled back, then scanned the loft. There wasn't much. My mattress lay on the floor, covered in Trey's quilt, and my dresser stood in the corner. Wolf glanced back at me, his expression unreadable, then spun me around and marched me toward the loft ladder.

"We're leaving," he ordered. "Go down the ladder."

I obeyed. Another man, with black hair pulled back into a messy topknot and dressed the same as Wolf, stood in the clinic holding a large rifle. He looked familiar, but the chaos roaring through my head made it impossible to place him. His face stayed expressionless as he shifted to put his body between me and the door. Wolf came down behind me, twisting my arms behind my back. I heard the familiar sound of a zip tie cinch shut and felt the plastic dig into my wrists.

"Not a word, you hear?" Wolf growled in my ear as he propelled me toward the door. "I don't want to shoot my way out of here, but I will if I have to."

He held a pistol in his hand. It had a silencer on it, and my heart seized with terror that Mac would return and—

I gulped in short, frantic gasps of air. I couldn't watch another person I cared about get shot. Wolf and his friend hesitated, staring at me with furrowed brows.

"Quiet," Wolf said as he shook me hard.

Almost as though a switch flipped, it felt like I was outside my body, watching. My gasping eased, an empty nothingness washing over me. They both stared at me for a second longer before pulling their goggles down and dragging me outside.

They slid through the shadows easily, and I stumbled along in a dreamlike state. After I tripped for the tenth time, they practically carried me, the toes of my boots barely brushing the ground.

As we approached the gate, I didn't notice the bodies until we were stepping over them. They lay in the shadows of the wall, and I couldn't tell if they were dead or alive.

F***. Oh gods, please don't be—

"Sable?" Wolf called in a low voice.

Another shadowy figure bled out of the darkness of the gate, startling me. The man holding my left arm released me and traded places with this third person—Sable, apparently. As Sable took my arm, I could barely see his features in the moonlight, making out long blond hair and lips that were frowning at me. The dark-haired man operated the pulley to open the gate doors just enough to fit a person, and Wolf and Sable darted toward the woods with me in tow. I craned my neck to look back. The gate inched shut behind us, closing with a soft thud. I had to bite back a gasp as the man rappelled down the wall with ease. There were no cries of alarm. No guards shouting. Nothing.

Please don't be dead.

The dark-haired man and Wolf dragged me through the woods. Sable took up the rear, drawing the large rifle he carried on his back. I tried to keep up and cooperate, but I didn't have night vision goggles, and stumbled over every damn tree branch and rock. Soon, they seemed to grow frustrated and started carrying me again. They moved so fast, and now that we were out of the hold, reality set in.

My brother was about to kill me.

I knew he would catch up to me eventually, but turns out I hadn't been as mentally prepared as I thought. They looked like mercenaries. Was Wolf a merc now?

Wolf let out a low whistle, and an answering whistle sounded from somewhere ahead of us. A minute later, a figure appeared, leading a horse.

"Any trouble?" a male voice asked.

"No," Wolf said. "Any updates?"

"All clear at home base," horse guy responded.

"Are your bones full of air?" the dark-haired man holding my arm muttered. I glanced up to find him tilting his head, a slow smirk curling one corner of his mouth. "You're a lot prettier than Wolf."

"Shut up, Lee," my brother growled, taking my arm from Lee and dragging me toward the horse. Terror had me light-headed. "If you think passin' out is gonna help you, you're dead wrong," Wolf said harshly.

He reached toward me, and I instinctively jumped backward, only to crash into a body that grabbed me tightly by the shoulders. I froze in fear, and Wolf's angry face swam in my vision.

"I wouldn't try to run if I were you," the person behind me said.

A quick glance revealed it to be the horse guy.

"Listen to Tuck. Or you're gonna make this ten times worse for yourself." Wolf lifted me onto the saddle. As he bent to make sure my feet were in the stirrups, Tuck joined Lee and Sable, and the three of them spoke in low tones while watching me. Juck's voice echoed in my head.

Quit cryin', Angel, or I'll give you somethin' to cry about.

As soon as Wolf finished adjusting the stirrups, we started moving again in a single-file line. Sable led the way, and Wolf walked behind him, holding the horse's reins. I only knew Tuck and Lee were behind my horse because I glanced back and saw them. Somehow, the only sound was the horse's hooves crunching through the snow. The zip ties stung where they rubbed against my skin. I wondered if the horse would bolt if I gave it a good kick, but I knew I'd probably fall off with my hands tied behind my back.

What would Mac think when he returned and found me gone? Would he assume I'd been called out to heal someone? Would he even look for me before morning? It wasn't unusual for me to be out healing during the night. At this speed, we'd be far away by then.

That was for the best, though. Wolf was going to kill me. Like he'd said, my time was up.

Was this how Trey felt when he knew he was going to die?

I'll find you again in another lifetime.

I struggled to wrestle my e…